Music buffs await word on organ from flood-damaged Clapp Hall

Apr. 12, 2013

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Written by

Tara Bannow

Iowa City Press-Citizen

A small group of music buffs eagerly awaits word on the fate of an organ from the flood-damaged Clapp Recital Hall, which they say was among the first of its kind to be installed at a U.S. university.

Six people, most of them representing churches and universities, are in the running to receive the mechanical action pipe organ before the Hancher-Voxman-Clapp building is demolished this fall. The School of Music’s planning director said the organ was not damaged in the flood, but has collected a great deal of dust in the years since the 2008 flood.

FEMA dictated that the organ, installed when the building opened in 1972, must remain in the recital hall until the contractor that ultimately is chosen to demolish the building decides where it will end up.

“Whoever it goes to, I think it really will be a wonderful instrument,” said Brett Wolgast, UI visiting assistant music professor and cantor at First Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids. Wolgast was among those who requested the organ for his church, but learned this week that it’s not feasible for the space.

Once a contractor is selected, that firm will receive the list of people interested in a number of items that remain inside Hancher-Voxman-Clapp, including seating and architectural wood, and decide whether to give those items away or demolish them with the rest of the building, said Beverly Robalino, UI’s senior design project manager.

“It’s totally out of our hands,” she said. “We tell them who’s interested and it’s totally up to the contractor to work with anyone on this list or not to.”

FEMA has specific rules and criteria that determine how university officials must handle each building. For example, when a former fraternity house at 109 River St. is demolished to make way for the new Art Building, UI is required to work with the Salvage Barn, an Iowa City store that resells architectural items and building materials, to make sure it receives every item that can be recycled, Robalino said.

Matthew Penning, director of music ministries at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in University Heights, is among those hoping to be selected to receive the organ. By 2015, the congregation hopes to move to a new church it plans to build on Camp Cardinal Road, and the larger space might be able to house the organ.

“Everything is really kind of up in the air right now with it, so we’ve just been waiting patiently to see what word we’ll get from them,” he said.

At the time the Canadian company Casavant Frères built the organ, mechanical action organs were experiencing a resurgence over electric action organs, which don’t allow the musician as much control over how the sound comes out of the pipes, Penning said.

“You can have a little more finesse with it,” he said of the Clapp organ.

When the organ first was unveiled, Burton Tidwell, an organ builder who lives in Seattle, flew to UI for the occasion just to see it. He said he now worries about whether it’s being damaged from sitting in a moist, flood-damaged building.

“I frankly love the organ,” said Tidwell, who said he requested the organ because he wanted to make sure it found an appropriate home.

Kristin Thelander, UI School of Music professor and planning director, said FEMA has required that Hancher-Voxman-Clapp remain climate-controlled, so the organ isn’t being exposed to excessive humidity.

Wolgast said when he saw the organ six months ago, it appeared to be in mint condition.

“It didn’t look like there was really anything that had been affected by the flood,” he said.

Others in the running for the organ include Dale Monson, director of the University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music, and an organ professor at Wheaton College in Illinois.

The Salvage Barn has requested a number of items, including the remaining seats in Hancher-Voxman-Clapp, the kitchenette from Hancher, the stone flooring from Clapp’s lobby and wood from Hancher’s lobby.